Let us charette, shall we? 💙
Well, we broke one impasse: After being deadlocked on filling Buddy Pinder's council seat following his abrupt resignation, finalist Greg Dully removed his name from consideration, leaving only Anna Richards to fill the seat. We congratulate Anna on her appointment. [1]
Unfortunately, the Council failed to retain Alan Cohen — who was recommended by the Florida League of Cities — as interim Village Manager.
To date, only sixteen qualified candidates have applied for the full time Village Manager position, including former Florida State Rep. Ron Saunders (the Islamorada Community Alliance has listed some of the resumes here). [2] [3]
We will discuss the Village Manager again at our next council meeting, Tuesday, March 18, 5:30pm.
The time to charette is approaching!
We had a very positive meeting this week with the folks at Able City — the firm retained by the Village to produce our new comprehensive plan.
Able City will be hosting a Blueprint for Balance Charette, March 24-28 which is open to the public. We highly encourage everyone to participate and let us know what kind of future we want for Islamorada!
For more information: planislamorada.com
To help us guard against overdevelopment and protect our waters we need your input on the new comprehensive plan... Please make your voices heard!
Finally, March 4th marks the start of the Florida legislative session. As our friends at Captains for Clean Water put it: "With Florida’s water quality under fire, the approaching Legislative Session demands our vigilance."
Stay vigilant,
Councilman Steve Friedman
[1] ISLAMORADA COUNCIL SELECTS ANNA RICHARDS FOR VACANT SEAT AFTER GREG DULLY DROPS OUT, Upper Keys Weekly, February 11, 2025.
[2] Alan Cohen's LinkedIn profile.
[3] ISLAMORADA COUNCIL WILL MULL CONTRACT FOR INTERIM MANAGER SERVICES AT A MARCH MEETING, Upper Keys Weekly, February 21, 2025.
DeSantis urged to declare emergency over toxic red tide algae off Florida coast – The Guardian
"Environmentalists in Florida are calling on the governor, Ron DeSantis, to declare an emergency as a worsening 'red tide' algae bloom off the state’s south-west coast threatens popular tourist beaches and is being blamed for the deaths of wildlife including fish and dolphins..."